New AT tires for those of us with 18inch wheels

Discussion in 'Renegade Wheels & Tires' started by 17RLA4x4, Oct 29, 2017.

  1. 17RLA4x4

    17RLA4x4 New Member

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    After having my 17 Renegade Altitude for about 6 weeks and doing several simple mods I decided that I wanted some new AT tires.

    I do not have a lift or spacers on this Jeep, it is stock.

    Those of us who have the 18 inch rims on our Jeep have limited choices. While surfing Youtube and finding a guy who lives near me in Florida and does lots of offroad stuff in his vehicles in the same area that I will be frequenting, Ocala National Forest, I decided to look into the Atturo Trail Blade XT in the 235/60 18 size.

    Atturo is owned by Continental and they make a variety of tires for both cars and Jeeps.

    Several online places have them with free shipping and the price was ideal at less than $500 for the set of 4.

    I contacted my local shop and they decided to match the price if I did the install with them. They quoted $70 to mount and balance for the set of 4 tires. I went ahead and asked them to order them. They arrived in about 4 days.

    The stock Kumho tires were 28 inch diameter by 9 inch wide. The new Atturo were 29.1 inch diameter by 9.5 inches wide but the shop said if they did not fit mine they would have no trouble selling them to somebody else.

    The front fit with ZERO RUB but the rear did have a SLIGHT RUB on the pinch weld bump so the shop looked up the Renegade specific mod and did it for $50.

    Air pressue set to 28 based on load rating change and the TPMS indicator did not come on.

    The shop also purchased my stock Kumho that had 3600 miles on them for $160 for the 4.

    The Jeep averaged 27 MPG for the first ~3600 miles of a 50/50 mix of town and country road commute.

    After driving with them locally for a couple of days the differences that are noticable are a slight to moderate hum/whine on the road and a marked improvement in stability.

    I will post a follow up in a month or so to report any MPG change.

    Stock
    17 Renegade Altitude Stock tires.jpg

    Atturo 235/60 18

    17 Renegade Atturo 235:60:18 tires.jpg

    Stock Front

    17 Renegade Stock Kumho tire.jpg

    Stock vs Atturo before install

    17 Renegade stock vs Atturo 235:60:18.jpg

    Atturo installed

    17 Renegade Atturo 235:60:18 Front.jpg

    Another couple after install

    Oblique Atturo tires.jpg


    Rear Atturo Tires.jpg

    17 Renegade Atturo 235:60:18 tires.jpg

    Worth the $$$
     
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  2. cohocarl

    cohocarl New Member

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    :D Look good! I'm seriously thinking of getting some A/T ties before the winter here in MI. (which is any day now :mad:)

    I have some Cooper AT/3's on my old Trailblazer that I am trying to sell which have been a fantastic tire, but they don't come in anything close to fitting our 18's. I sent Cooper an email last week suggesting they consider making the AT/3's in "our size".
     
  3. 17RLA4x4

    17RLA4x4 New Member

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    Thanks.

    I looked into Cooper tires and like you found nothing for the 18's.

    Here is the video that helped me decide on the Atturo Trail Blade, you might find it helpful.



    Winter won't wait!
     
  4. Kevin Gaare

    Kevin Gaare Active Member

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    They did the pinch seam mod for $50 and bought your old tires for $160? Damn good tire shop.
     
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  5. burnttoast

    burnttoast Active Member

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    Nicely done!
     
  6. scruffus

    scruffus New Member

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    Wow I should have looked a little harder before making my post, literally right above yours- I have the exact same set-up as yours: Renegade Altitude with the same 18" rims and have had my eye on the Atturo trailblades for awhile as well.
    So with your setup the tires don't rub on the front strut towers at all? (There's a photo on my post that shows what I'm talking about).
    And from your description the "slight rub" at the front pinch seam sounds like it could possibly be lived with if I decided I didn't want to do that pinch seam modification, or would you say no?
     
  7. scruffus

    scruffus New Member

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    One more quick question- You referred, both on this post and in your reply to burnttoasts' post, to a pinch seam modification in the BACK wheel well... but I think the pinch seam mod everyone is familiar with is in the FRONT wheel well. Just want to make sure I'm understanding correctly...
     
    Last edited: Nov 7, 2017
  8. 17RLA4x4

    17RLA4x4 New Member

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    I was at the shop to watch the front tires go through full turning capability without any rubbing at all.

    I had another appt and while there the mechanic called and said slight rub at the rear so he did the pinch weld mod for the rear tires. I can see where he used a heat gun to push the plastic wheel well back after he trimmed the pinch weld.

    After 500 + miles I have not had any rubbing issues at all and am really glad I went with these tires.

    Next is to find another rim and get another tire for a full size spare.
     
  9. scruffus

    scruffus New Member

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    Awesome, thanks for your reply- it means I can go ahead with these tires this week! I'm thinking that 1/2" spacers in the back only might help me avoid doing any modifications there. And its odd- I have never read about any pinch seam modification that has to be done in the rear wheel wells. Would you mind posting a photo of where they used a heatgun there? I would like to check it against my own wheel well to see if spacers would do me any good.

    Your setup looks great and these tires have gotten pretty good reviews too.
     
  10. scruffus

    scruffus New Member

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    I finally got these same tires installed yesterday and wanted to post my review of them here, as my experience with them is a little different from the OPs post. Just in case anyone else out there with 18" wheels is considering this purchase.

    To recap the setup: stock altitude package, no spacers or lift, stock 18" wheels, 235/60 R18 Atturo Trailblade tires.

    At first impression, driving through town on my way home, there seemed to be no rubbing issues at all. The tightest clearance is on the front tires, which are VERY close to the front strut spring cup:
    IMG_8076 short.jpg
    I can't get a credit card in between the tire and the cup. Clearance to the pinch seam in the front wheel well is close at almost full lock, but no rubbing there. Probably a 3/16" of clearance. As far as the back tires go, the closest clearance is to the bump in the wheel well liner over the pinch seam, but there is 1/2" of space at this location.

    So I decided to take it out of town to get up to highway speeds, I wanted to hear what they sounded like, and onto some twisty roads to see how they handled. This is where problems began to appear. First I noticed that any turning into and through a corner, at pretty much any speed and it also didn't matter how hard or soft I was going into the corner, resulted in a slight but definite high pitch rubbing sound. Not only that, but at higher speeds on straight stretches, anything above about 50 mph and this same sound would appear, and it was different from the normal whine of the tread blocks. I pretty much concluded that this had to be the tire rubbing on the spring cup. On cornering, sideways load is put on the tires which deflect the tires into the spring cups. At speed, in a straight line, centrifugal force is causing the diameter of the tire to grow just enough to contact the spring cups. To back up this assumption, after one of these stretches of road I stopped the car, got out and touched the spring cup to see if it was hot, and it was VERY hot. Proof enough for me.

    So obviously this isn't going to work as it is set up now. I had planned to put on spacers anyway, I bought 15mm spacers for the front already, and 1" Bora spacers for the rears are on the way, but still a week or more out. I had planned to wait to install them when I had them all in hand, but given the above problems I think I'm going to install the front ones this afternoon and take it out for another test run, and see if the extra 15mm of clearance is going to fix it. I will report back here after that with the results.

    As for why I had such different results from 17RLA4x4's above, when we have the exact same year and model and trim package and wheels and all that, I have no idea. Maybe there is just that much difference from one renegade to the next. Different shifts at the factory? Slight differences in parts such as struts depending on where those parts are sourced from at different times of the year? I just don't know.

    What would be really awesome is if the aftermarket came out with some struts that raised that spring cup an inch or so....

    EDIT: So I did pop the 15mm spacers on today and it completely eliminated all the above problems, but of course now the tires rub at the front on the pinch seam at full lock. But its such a minimal amount I'm not going to worry about doing the pinch seam mod. I can't even hear the rubbing from inside the car, I only know that its rubbing because I can visually see that the tires are just grazing the plastic where that bump is.

    There is now a lot more space between the tire and the spring cup:
    IMG_8083 short.jpg

    And if anyone wonders what 15mm (1/2") spacers do for poke:
    IMG_8084.JPG
     
    Last edited: Dec 10, 2017
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  11. monkeyboy

    monkeyboy New Member

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    Did you ever do the pinch seam mod? Or you just stayed with just the 1.25" spacers?
     
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  12. Nathaniel

    Nathaniel Active Member

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    I live in the Ocala Forest area as well, maybe we could meet sometime? Would be nice hitting the trails with another Renegade for once. The Jeep club I'm in is rather interesting since I'm the only one that doesnt have a "real" Jeep as they put it. I am however the only one in the group that hasnt gotten stuck yet on their organized rides though so there is that lol
     
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  13. Klaue

    Klaue New Member

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    I to have a 2017 Altitude just went over 500 miles lol thanks to your research this is the tire i will be getting can't see wasting these nice wheels. Saves me money for other goodies .
     
  14. Joe McKenzie

    Joe McKenzie New Member

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    I’m new lol! What spacers do I need. 17 latitude with 18 rims
     
  15. IDoMy0wnRacing

    IDoMy0wnRacing Well-Known Member

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